The first time I tried, I talked for twenty minutes without answering Lena’s question.

She smiled.

“Shorter.

The truth does not have to be theatrical.”

Opal came to the hearing in her navy dress, carrying peppermints and a crossword puzzle.

She sat behind me, close enough that I knew she was there without turning around.

The courtroom smelled of polished wood and old paper.

It was not the room where I had been convicted, but my body did not know the difference.